->''Most Gracious Queen, we thee implore \\
To go away and sin no more, \\
But if that effort be too great, \\
[[TakeThat To go away at any rate]].''
-->Anonymous. Refers to [[Main/TheHouseOfHanover George IV's wife, Queen Caroline.]]

The villain has either been defeated or acknowledges the error of his ways. He surrenders to the hero, [[GetItOverWith expecting to be killed]] or punished in some other way. Instead, the hero lets him go, telling him to repent for his crimes by doing good deeds. This usually turns the villain into TheAtoner and send him on a RedemptionQuest. May overlap with ThePunishmentIsTheCrime in cases where the hero decides that the villain has been sufficiently punished by his own remorse or other harmful consequences of his deeds.

Compare LetOffByTheDetective, when the fate the villain is spared is being processed by the official justice system.

TropeNamer is Literature/TheBible, in which Jesus releases an adulteress rather than stone her to death, as was common at the time.
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!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Done several times in ''RurouniKenshin''.
* Goku of ''DragonBallZ'' tries this on Frieza twice. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
* This happens in the Nuts Fujimori manga adaptation of FireEmblem: Seisen no Keifu. In this adaptation, one of the early bad guys, Kinbois of Verdane, is portayed as deep down not being evil, just someone influencable who was following the wrong path. Sigurd notices this, and lets him live on the promise he will atone for his sins. Kinbois is genuinely moved by this mercy and promises. This turns out to be crucial, as Kinbois' brother Jamuka later fights Sigurd because he believes, in a misunderstanding, that Sigurd has killed his beloved brother in battle: after learning the truth and seeing Sigurd's generosity, Jamuka joins his party.
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[[folder:Film]]
* In ''{{Gandhi}}'' a Hindu comes to Gandhi as he's partaking in a fast and says he (the Hindu) is going to Hell, because he killed a Muslim child in revenge for Muslims killing his son. Gandhi tells the man to to repent by finding a Muslim boy whose parents have been killed, and raise him. But here's the kicker: he's to raise the boy as a Muslim.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Folklore, Mythology and Religion]]
* The TropeNamer is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_and_the_woman_taken_in_adultery story]] in Literature/TheBible.
* If you identify "the hero" in the page description with {{God}}, you'd have a fairly accurate representation of the [[{{UsefulNotes/Christianity}} Christian]] doctrines of repentance and salvation.
* Most versions of the story of Momotaro end this way. He beats the oni in battle but, instead of killing them, tells them to change their ways.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Done by R. Daneel to the corrupt police chief in ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' by Creator/IsaacAsimov. Instead of arresting the chief for the murder of a pro-robot, pro-space travel scientist, Elijah and Daneel tell him to rally support for robots and space travel among the Luddite "Medievalists" he worked with.
* Subverted in ''[[SwordOfTruth Wizard's First Rule]]''. Richard forgives [[spoiler:his brother Michael]] for everything he did to him. However, Richard still executes him as he does not forgive him for his sins against others.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor makes a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sontaran]] work as a nurse.
* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', an alien who had been kidnapping children to use as child soldiers realizes that the war his people were fighting had ended without his knowledge. He allows Sarah Jane Smith to take his life, but she refuses. The alien then promises to return to his homeworld and bring back the humans he had abducted.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* In several ''MassEffect'' games, you can either kill an enemy as a Renegade decision or let him go for Paragon points. Most of the time it will usually work out in Shepard's favor to spare the character.
* ''GrandTheftAutoIV'' has a few missions end with an option to finish a cornered enemy off with a CoupDeGrace or get rid of them with this trope.
* In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'', after Duke Onkled betrayed the King of Hyrule by siding with Ganon, he gets off by being told to "Scrub all the floors in Hyrule."
* In MARDEK, Gope gets this treatment from Mardek and Duegan. Unless you [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential decide otherwise]]. He shows up later on and gives you an item needed to get to a bonus area, and again in the next game as a traveling merchant who can be useful for getting supplies in exotic places.
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